9-year-old Pleads Not Guilty In Attack

The Boy Is Charged With Threatening To Kill A Playmate - Drawing A Shotgun, Then A Knife, Then A Handgun.

August 11, 1999|By Rene Stutzman of The Sentinel Staff

SANFORD - A 9-year-old boy accused of threatening to kill his 9-year-old playmate with a shotgun, handgun and hunting knife pleaded not guilty Tuesday in juvenile court.

The boy stood silently while his attorney, Terry Leach, entered the plea on his behalf.

He was arrested two weeks ago at his Longwood home on a charge of aggravated assault with a firearm. No one was hurt in the incident.

In court Tuesday, the child's attorney and mother asked that he be freed from the electronic monitoring device that keeps him home 24 hours a day. The arrangement requires his mother to miss work, they said.

A psychiatrist interviewed him and concluded he is not dangerous, Leach argued. To continue such close monitoring ``is punitive. It's not fair,'' she said.

But Assistant State Attorney Brian DeSanto said the incident with the weapons shows the boy is dangerous.

Circuit Judge Debra Nelson ordered the boy to continue using the electronic monitor.

Authorities said the victim and his 13-year-old brother were playing with the suspect when he invited them into his grandfather's room. Once there, he pointed a shotgun at the younger boy and said he was going to kill him ``right now.''

He pulled the knife, threatened the boy, then plunged it into a mattress, police said.

The suspect then tried to load his grandfather's .38-caliber handgun, saying he was going to kill the boy. He couldn't get the gun loaded, so he put it away, according to authorities.

Police had urged prosecutors to charge the boy's grandfather for failing to lock up the guns. But Assistant State Attorney Jim Carter said the guns the boy had access to were not loaded, so there was no violation.